Text -- Isaiah 66:4-24 (NET)

66:4 So I will choose severe punishment for them; I will bring on them what they dread, because I called, and no one responded, I spoke and they did not listen. They did evil before me; they chose to do what displeases me.” 66:5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who respect what he has to say! Your countrymen, who hate you and exclude you, supposedly for the sake of my name, say, “May the Lord be glorified, then we will witness your joy.” But they will be put to shame. 66:6 The sound of battle comes from the city; the sound comes from the temple! It is the sound of the Lord paying back his enemies. 66:7 Before she goes into labor, she gives birth! Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy! 66:8 Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen this? Can a country be brought forth in one day? Can a nation be born in a single moment? Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons! 66:9 “Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?” asks your God. 66:10 Be happy for Jerusalem and rejoice with her, all you who love her! Share in her great joy, all you who have mourned over her! 66:11 For you will nurse from her satisfying breasts and be nourished; you will feed with joy from her milk-filled breasts. 66:12 For this is what the Lord says: “Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river, the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. You will nurse from her breast and be carried at her side; you will play on her knees. 66:13 As a mother consoles a child, so I will console you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.” 66:14 When you see this, you will be happy, and you will be revived. The Lord will reveal his power to his servants and his anger to his enemies. 66:15 For look, the Lord comes with fire, his chariots come like a windstorm, to reveal his raging anger, his battle cry, and his flaming arrows. 66:16 For the Lord judges all humanity with fire and his sword; the Lord will kill many. 66:17 “As for those who consecrate and ritually purify themselves so they can follow their leader and worship in the sacred orchards, those who eat the flesh of pigs and other disgusting creatures, like mice– they will all be destroyed together,” says the Lord. 66:18 “I hate their deeds and thoughts! So I am coming to gather all the nations and ethnic groups; they will come and witness my splendor. 66:19 I will perform a mighty act among them and then send some of those who remain to the nations– to Tarshish, Pul, Lud (known for its archers), Tubal, Javan, and to the distant coastlands that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor. 66:20 They will bring back all your countrymen from all the nations as an offering to the Lord. They will bring them on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules, and on camels to my holy hill Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring offerings to the Lord’s temple in ritually pure containers. 66:21 And I will choose some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord. 66:22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain. 66:23 From one month to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people will come to worship me,” says the Lord. 66:24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, and the fire that consumes them will not die out. All people will find the sight abhorrent.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 66:4

¹ tn The precise meaning of the noun is uncertain. It occurs only here and in 3:4 (but see the note there). It appears to be derived from the verbal root עָלַל (’alal), which can carry the nuance “deal severely.”

² tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”

NET Notes: Isa 66:5

¹ tn Heb “who tremble at his word.”

² tn Heb “brothers” (so NASB, NIV); NRSV “Your own people”; NLT “Your close relatives.”

³ tn Or “so that we might witness your joy.” The point of this statement is unclear.

NET Notes: Isa 66:8

¹ tn Heb “land,” but here אֶרֶץ (’erets) stands metonymically for an organized nation (see the following line).

NET Notes: Isa 66:9

¹ sn The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “Of course not!”

NET Notes: Isa 66:11

¹ tn Or “in order that”; ASV, NRSV “that.”

² tn Heb “you will suck and be satisfied, from her comforting breast.”

³ tn Heb “you will slurp and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.”

sn Zion’s residents will benefit from and enjoy her great material prosperity. See v. 12.

NET Notes: Isa 66:12

¹ tn Heb “Look, I am ready to extend to her like a river prosperity [or “peace”], and like an overflowing stream, the riches of nations.”

² tn The words “from her breast” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 11).

NET Notes: Isa 66:13

¹ tn Heb “like a man whose mother comforts him.”

NET Notes: Isa 66:14

¹ tn “and you will see and your heart will be happy.”

² tn Heb “and your bones like grass will sprout.”

³ tn Heb “and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, and anger to his enemies.”

NET Notes: Isa 66:15

¹ sn Chariots are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way that they kick up dust.

² tn Heb “to cause to return with the rage of his anger, and his battle cry [or “rebuke”] with flames of fire.”

NET Notes: Isa 66:16

¹ tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “upon all men”; TEV “all the people of the world.”

² tn Heb “many are the slain of the Lord.”

NET Notes: Isa 66:17

¹ tn Heb “the ones who consecrate themselves and the ones who purify themselves toward the orchards [or “gardens”] after the one in the midst.” The precise meaning of the statement is unclear, though it is obvious that some form of idolatry is in view.

² tn Heb “ones who eat the flesh of the pig and the disgusting thing and the mouse.”

³ tn Heb “together they will come to an end.”

NET Notes: Isa 66:18

¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and I, their deeds and their thoughts, am coming.” The syntax here is very problematic, suggesting that the text may have suffered corruption. Some suggest that the words “their deeds and their thoughts” have been displaced from v. 17. This line presents two primary challenges. In the first place, the personal pronoun “I” has no verb after it. Most translations insert “know” for the sake of clarity (NASB, NRSV, NLT, ESV). The NIV has “I, because of their actions and their imaginations…” Since God’s “knowledge” of Israel’s sin occasions judgment, the verb “hate” is an option as well (see above translation). The feminine form of the next verb (בָּאָה, ba’ah) could be understood in one of two ways. One could provide an implied noun “time” (עֵת, ’et) and render the next line “the time is coming/has come” (NASB, ESV). One could also emend the feminine verb to the masculine בָּא (ba’) and have the “I” at the beginning of the line govern this verb as well (for the Lord is speaking here): “I am coming” (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

² tn Heb “and the tongues”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “and tongues.”

NET Notes: Isa 66:19

¹ tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).

² tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).

³ sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).

⁴ tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).

⁵ sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).

⁶ tn Or “islands” (NIV).

NET Notes: Isa 66:20

¹ tn Heb “brothers” (so NIV); NCV “fellow Israelites.”

² tn The words “they will bring them” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn The precise meaning of this word is uncertain. Some suggest it refers to “chariots.” See HALOT 498 s.v. *כִּרְכָּרָה.

NET Notes: Isa 66:23

¹ tn Heb “new moon.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

² tn Heb “all flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NAB, NASB, NIV “all mankind”; NLT “All humanity.”

³ tn Or “bow down before” (NASB).

NET Notes: Isa 66:24

¹ tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”

² tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

³ tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

sn This verse depicts a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.